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Mike Skinner said goodbye to The Streets with the farewell tour not too long ago, but that hasn’t stopped him from getting involved in other projects! First we had news of The Music’s Robert Harvey collaborating with Skinner. The two together, known as The Dot, have released material on their official website Thedot.net!

But news has emerged from Skinner’s blog, that he’s working with none other than Bejamin Francis Leftwich. He wrote, “Chilled day in the studio with Benjamin Francis Leftwich. An impressive blue sky approach to guitar tunings.”

Cannot wait to hear results of this! I can only assume this will be very close to musical porn.

Every so often you get to hear a new album which you’ll be completely absorbed in. You won’t be able to leave it alone. But last Monday, we had Maverick Sabre’s ‘Lonely Are The Brave’ come out, so surely we’d have to wait a fair bit for another album of that quality, right? Well, a week is a long time in music, I guess.

As this Monday, just one week after Mav’s debut, we’re treated to the incredible Emeli Sande’s – ‘Our Version Of Events’.

With her number 2 single, ‘Heaven’, and the incredible feature on Professor Green’s ‘Read All About It’, Emeli began to attract a lot of attention, which peaked when she was announced as the BRITS Critics Choice Award Winner, following in the footsteps of Ellie Goulding, Florence & The Machine, Jessie J, oh, and Adele!

But if you were more aware, you’ll know that Emeli has been showing her talents for a bit now. Writing for and with, what seems, every fairly successful X-Factor candidate, but also with Wiley, Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder and Wretch 32, plus featuring on great tracks with the likes of Chipmunk (Diamond Rings) and Wiley (Never Be Your Woman) and Tinie Tempah (Let Go). She’s also be described as, the Dark Lord himself, Simon Cowell’s ‘favourite songwriter’! Oh, 1 more then, she’s recently finished touring with none other than Coldplay… Things going well then?

You could possibly be forgiven for thinking the hype may have outdone the talents she has. But, well, you’d be wrong. Because, ‘Our Version Of Events’ showcases, arguably, the best UK talent out there right now. And, well Adele’s still out there isn’t she. I mean, I know that’s a big thing to say, but well, I certainly stand by it.

Kicking off her debut LP, is her number 2 single, that I mentioned earlier – ‘Heaven’. Sublime production which brings out the strong, majestic vocals of Sande. Pitched by Emeli as a confession that she’s changed so much since she was younger – but that it’s because “of everything that comes with living.” Just one of the many examples of how down to earth she is.

Originally, this post was planned as a track-by-track review of ‘Our Version Of Events’, but then I just thought, who’s really going to go out and buy it purely because of a review of mine? you’re going to buy it anyway. So I thought I’d try and show anyone reading, why Emeli Sande is the perfect role-model to aspire for – not even just for becoming a musician, but an all-round person too.

There are a lot of talented musicians. No doubt. But how many would you describe as intelligent? How many would you describe as humble? How many would you actually describe as a ‘nice person’? I certainly can’t think of that many. But after watching a mini documentary on Emeli, entitled, ‘Her Version Of Events’, you realise you can firmly include Emeli Sande in those previous categories.

She’s always shown the musical promise – learning the piano at the age of 10, and writing at 11, but she was once on course to becoming a neurologist – brain surgery for those who don’t recognise! Her link to this can be seen in her second single, ‘Daddy’. “Everyone is essentially addicted to something.” She says, adding, “I think that’s why I loved studying neurology… We’re all flawed in some way.” She also, when speaking to Q Magazine, said, “I’m really fascinated by mental breakdown.”

Despite being just 16, Emeli won Trevor Nelson’s BBC Urban Music Competition – which, fairly obviously, brought in label interest. In the same Q Magazine article, she said, “I’d sit and play to a line of men behind a glass shield talking about where the music should go… I could feel my control slipping.” This is when she chose to follow the science road for a while, but still maintaining the musical side – in playing as a background jazz pianist in Glasgow – for £40 a night! I think it takes a lot of commitment and loyalty to your talents to turn down record label interest. But if, and when, it pays off, it pays off big – as seen with that guy Ed Sheeran!

You could really pin down why Emeli is doing as well as she is now, by her mum’s actions. Obviously Emeli could have reached this stage at some point, but it was her mum who sent off a sample CD over to BBC Radio 1xtra, which eventually found its way through to Naughty Boy – which formed a very strong musical relationship between the two of them – creating ‘Daddy’ on their first session just over 3 years ago. She seemed blown away by his love of music. “I loved how passionate he was… purely about the music!” And it was in 2010, when she finally got a deal with EMI and Virgin.

What I find most incredible about Emeli is her humbleness. She’s speaks so highly of so many highly deserving artists that she’s worked with, especially the already mentioned Naughty Boy and Tinie Tempah… “He was so on point.” It’s something you don’t often see too much nowadays, artists giving other artists proper heartfelt credit and applause.

Despite this not being a track-by-track review, I thought I had to write a bit about my favourite track on the album. ‘Hope’. Obviouslty every track offers so much, in terms of raw emotion expressed through Sande’s brilliantly worked lyrics, which can sum up the most complicated of feelings into one sentence. ‘My Kind Of Love’, ‘Maybe’, ‘River’, and especially ‘Read All About It (Part III) – [below] all showcase this.

But ‘Hope’ really stood out to me – due it’s message.

So many artists can write perfect songs based on various, let’s face it, depressing emotions. Even some of my favourite artists can’t really get the effect Emeli has managed to achieve with this track. ‘Hope’ is the most inspiring, uplifting track I’ve heard in a very long time. You can see the opportunity the London riots have offered musicians, alongside youth unemployment rates, and just the general decline in views of young people, it’s a topic which can create some great music. But Sande has captured that whole picture, but also included other moments of desperation from far away from the UK – “I have a link to Zambia and places with standards of living that are just horrible.” Written with Alicia Keys, on a rainy day in New York just after the aforementioned riots, they came up with the first line: “I hope that the world stops raining, stops turning its back on the young” – she described it as a “prayer”. It’s 3 minutes of beautiful crafted music, inspiring lyrics, soulfully sung vocals with the brilliant production that is a constant throughout the album.

Emeli Sande is intelligent, talented, and just perfectly humble. A proper winning combination in life – not just music. If you don’t get lost in this album, I feel sorry for you.

Enjoy this cover of Blur’s classic, ‘Country House’, from her recent trip to Radio 1’s Live Lounge below. Really is something!

Also, in Ed news, ‘+’ went back in at number 1 in the album charts! Denying Adele’s ’21’ a 21st week at the number 1 spot on it’s release anniversary. Ed Sheeran, stopping an Adele party it seems! Will he do the same, by over-shadowing her at the BRITS?

Following a monsterous single, like ‘Earthquake’, will forever be a hrad job. But this 1 minute clip of his next, upcoming single, in the build up to his album, ‘Electronic Earth’, seems like it might just do the job quite well! The full single goes on the airways tomorrow from 8am, so listen out for that… But for now, you can enjoy this 1 minute long clip of the new single, ‘Last Time’.

Lab also told Soul Culture recently, that he’s working on a ‘Earthquake’ remix, featuring, Wretch 32, Busta Rhymes, Kano, a new ‘harsh’ verse from Tinie Tempah, oh, and Labrinth will be rapping too!

So, there’s no question about the people asked to come up with the lists. But as always, opinions will bring out the other opinions.

I can’t really be bothered to do my own list, as I don’t think I’m the right person to do such a thing. But there’s a few in the list which I’m wondering about.

However, I’m glad Professor Green didn’t get overlooked because of his commercial success – getting the number 3 spot.

And, I’m properly glad Wretch got the number 1 place. And it obviously meant a lot to him, as he tweeted after the announcement,

“#MTVBESTOFTHEBEST2011 thanks a lot. This means more than the No. 1, as I believe in the art form. In this country, we have some of the world’s best spitters/artists. 2012, let’s let the world know. God bless team UK. Thanks again.”

Now, if you haven’t heard of Clement Marfo & The Frontline, where have you been recently? They’ve been gathering steam, even more since the release of their track, ‘Mayhem’ (ft. Kano) [Out fully on 12th March]…

and yesterday, the remixes for the single were announced:

1) Mayhem ft Kano (Original)

2) Mayhem (Doorly Remix)

3) Mayhem ft Kano (Ishi Remix)

4) Mayhem ft Kano (TRC Remix)

5) Mayhem ft Kano (Eddie K & Minus Remix)

6) Mayhem ft Kano (Smasher Remix)

(You can listen to the Smasher remix below already)

The ones that stand out for me, would have to be the Ishi, and Doorly remixes, but will any of them top the original? Never know – I just cannot wait to actually have a copy of this track!

‘Download Festival‘ announced their line-up last night, which included the likes of Biffy Clyro and Metallica. It also saw a return to a UK live show for The Prodigy – with Chase & Status supporting them. Which sounds like one of the best 2 acts in a row. Chase & Status followed by The Prodigy!

But, trust the human race to find something wrong with it, again. Apparently, people who go to ‘Download‘ think Chase & Status are: “Cu*ts”, and have set up a couple of Facebook Groups to try and stop them from playing. One geniously entitled;

Bottling ‘Chase and Status’ at Download 2012

and the other;

Get Chase and status off the download line-up

these groups so far have, 83, and 15 ‘likes’ respectively. So, failing, is basically what they can be described as then?

Even so, it shows it’s insanity, by the fact that the ‘Download‘ boss had to come out to defend the duo! Saying, “Very simple. They’re a great live band. They totally fit with what we’ve done before with bands like Pendulum and The Prodigy, who wanted them to play on their day. I know they’re going to step up and win people over. I saw them perform in Hyde Park last year and they totally blew me away with the intensity of their show.”

He continued, “They even had circle pits going on and that’s what Download’s all about. To those people who are unsure, I say go and have a look and you’ll be blown away. If not, we’ve got four other stages for you to choose from. But you should go and watch Chase & Status.”

Which I think is the perfect response, it doesn’t give the tw*ats who started the groups up any more fuel, and it may encourage people to go and actually witness what an unbelievable show they put on!